CORRESPONDENCE CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 103, NO. 2, 25 JULY 2012 130 Acacia dealbata Link. (Silver Wattle), an invasive species growing in high altitudes of the Himalaya Acacia dealbata is native to Australia. The genus Acacia (wattles) belongs to the family Mimosaceae. There are almost 1,380 species of Acacia found through- out the world and close to 1,000 of these are found in Australia as well as 144 species in the African region (including Madagascar), 89 species in Asia and about 185 species in North and South America 1 . In India, there are about 22 indigenous species of Acacia, distributed throughout the plains. However, all spe- cies that yield wattle are exotic and have been introduced from Australia. It is presumed that it was introduced in the Nilgiris in 1840, where it became natu- ralized and it has also been planted in the Himalaya (Shimla, Nainital and Almora hills). Several workers have reported and deposited specimens of A. dealbata in BSI Dehradun, e.g. M. A. Rau (BSD 17172) in 1961 reported it from Bhawoli (Kumaon), G. G. Malhotra (BSD 59247) in 1963 from Nagnath (Garhwal), T. A. Rao (BSD 1957) in 1957 from Kalmatia (Kumaon), P. C. Pant (BSD 17173) in 1961 from Ranik- het (Kumaon), U. C. Bhattacharya (BSD 35309) in 1964 from Deolsari (Tehri- Garhwal), A. A. Ansari (BSD 15994) in 1980 from Candoli (Pauri-Garhwal), G. N. Madhuwal (BSD 69404) in 1976 from Nagdev garden (Pauri-Garhwal) and R. D. Gaur (GUH 16206) in 1999 from Naugoankhal (Pauri-Garhwal). We found A. dealbata in the interior Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary at an altitude of 2,200 m between 30°36′54″N lat. and 79°11′59″E long. The voucher specimen of the plant species was collected and deposited in the Garhwal University Herbarium (GUH) with accession num- ber JAB-GUH-20576. Till date there is no report of this species from this largest protected area as well as from such high elevations of Garhwal Himalaya. A. dealbata is a problem species in Portugal 2 , northwest Spain, where it is threatening the native flora and becom- ing a serious environmental problem 3 , and in France and Italy, where it is locally dominant in the Mediterranean littoral 4 . One of the most invasive spe- cies of current concern in Europe is A. dealbata, which is reducing populations of native species and hence biodiversity 5 . A. dealbata is an invasive alien plant of the Indian Himalayan region 6 . Ecosystem structure and functioning are often seriously affected by invasive Acacia species, leading to ecological homogeni- zation of the landscape. Management of Acacia is difficult due to its tendency to invade native forest and cultivated areas, resulting in serious problems 7 . Wattles threaten native habitats by competing with indigenous vegetation, replacing grass communities, reducing native bio- diversity and increasing water loss from riparian zones 8 . A. dealbata, A. melanoxylon and A. longifolia are the most prolific invaders in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, especially in the conservation areas. The most widespread species is probably A. dealbata, a tree that is widely naturalized in southern Europe 4 . The invasion of interiors of the Himalayan region by this species is an indication of what we should expect in the future. With global warming, many such species are expected to invade the higher altitudes of the Himalaya, replac- ing and threatening the biodiversity of the area. We need methods to eradicate them or halt their spread immediately. 1. Lorenzo, P., Gonzalez, L. and Reigosa, M. J., Ann. For. Sci., 2010, 67, 101. 2. Almeida, J. D. and Freitas, H., Bot. Com- plutensis, 2006, 30, 117–130. 3. Carballeira, A. and Reigosa, M. J., Bot. Bull. Acad. Sin., 1999, 40, 87–92. 4. Sheppard, A. W., Shaw, R. H. and Sforza, R., Weed Res., 2006, 46, 93–117. 5. Lorenzo, P., Malvido, E. P., Reigosa, M. J. and Gonzalez, L., Aust. J. Bot., 2010, 58, 546–553. 6. Sekar, K. C., Am. J. Plant Sci., 2012, 3, 177–184. 7. Blakesley, D., Allen, A., Pellny, T. K. and Roberts, A. V., Ann. Bot., 2002, 90, 391– 398. 8. Hoffmann, J. H., Impson, F. A. C., Moran, V. C. and Donnelly, D., S. Afr. Biol. Con- trol., 2002, 25, 64–73. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We thank UGC, New Delhi for awarding the Research Fellow- ship in Sciences for Meritorious Students to J.A.B. We also thank Dr Prashant Pusalkar (BSI) and Dr R. M. Panuli (GUH) for their help in identification of the specimen. JAHANGEER A. BHAT* MUNESH KUMAR AJEET K. NEGI N. P. TODARIA Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, P. O. Box 59, HNB Garhwal University (A Central University), Srinagar-Garhwal 246 174, India *e-mail: jahan191@gmail.com Seismicity near Jaitapur, India This note is with regard to the commen- tary, ‘Historical and future seismicity near Jaitapur, India’ by Bilham and Gaur. The paper has many errors and mis- judgements as shown below. The authors write: ‘Indeed, Jaitapur has frequently experienced intensity VII shaking from such earthquakes’ 1 . This is not true; figure 3 in their paper shows no earthquakes causing such intensity near Jaitapur. The only two shocks, shown in this figure as giving intensity VI, are the Koyna (1967) and Ratnagiri (1965) shocks and these are more than 100 and 50 km away from the site respectively. At Jaita- pur, the Koyna main shock caused only intensity V (ref. 2) and the Ratnagiri earth- quake may have caused the same or less. In the correction communicated later 3 , the authors write that earthquakes of in- tensity V and VI might have been felt in Jaitapur area and not VII. Such intensi- ties may, at the most, cause cracks in ordinary houses, but will not render any damage to well-designed nuclear power plants (NPP). While the location of Jaitapur is given as 16°35′N, 73°20′E in the text, it is wrongly considered in their analysis and in Figure 2 b at near 17°N. Many infer- ences are erroneous as the location con- sidered is 45 km closer to the Koyna seismic zone. Though the authors say that 4–5 shocks have occurred within 50 km of Jaitapur, no such earthquake has been located by the Koyna network operating since 1962 and the local net- work of five stations operating since 2004 around Jaitapur. The above-mentioned